Tasty Monster Productions Commemorates the 35th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict with World-Premiere of FALKLAND

Tasty Monster Productionspresent the WORLD PREMIERE performances of as part of the inaugural Tampa International Fringe Festival!

35 years ago, on April 2, 1982, Argentine forces invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands in an attempt to establish the sovereignty it claimed over them. On April 5th, three days later, Britain responded and the ensuing 74-day conflict claimed 904 lives, including 3 civilians, as well as wounded thousands more. Now, 35 years later, Tasty Monster Productions and acclaimed playwright Heather Bagnall present the world-premiere performances of FALKLAND as part of the inaugural Tampa Fringe Festival and the 26th Orlando Fringe Festival to commemorate the memory of the people whose lives were irreversibly changed by those fateful ten and a half weeks. This production shines a much needed light on the idea that history can and does repeat itself and in the current political climate how power can corrupt the lives of everyone it touches.

From the team who brought you the quirky antics of SINGLEMARRIEDGIRL, the poignant yet uplifting family drama Ferdinand, and the darkly comic Everybody's Crazy...or Maybe It's Just Me, as well as the out-of-this-world family musical The Space Pirate Puppy Musical!, comes a fifth original show - a hard-hitting new look at the Falklands War - FALKLAND.

Written by Heather Bagnall with direction by Luke Tudball, FALKLAND will see its world premiere performances at the inaugural Tampa International Fringe Festival this May. Tasty Monster Productions will present three performances at the HCC Studio Theater in Tampa opening on Thursday, May 11, 2017, before taking the show to the 26th annual Orlando Fringe Festival in Orlando's beautiful Loch Haven Park.

Under the starry blanket of night two unlikely friends, an idealistic young soldier and a reluctant farmer turned Captain, find a new camaraderie as the big show plays out in the theatre of war surrounding them. Bitter conflict, questionable politics, and moral debate engage us in a traumatic, but necessary, journey through the lives of the two men, their families, and the many twists and turns they encounter on the road to redemption.

LUKE TUDBALL is an actor, producer, mentor and director who has worked all over Europe and the United States. He trained at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, London, the University of East Anglia, Norwich, the Russian School of Acting, The Actors Centre, London, The Actors Center, Washington DC, and TVI Actors Studio, New York. With his partner in life and art, Heather Bagnall, he is Co-Founding Artistic Director of the award-winning Tasty Monster Productions. His many other credits include work in theatre, voiceover, radio, film and television. As a performer he has worked with, amongst others, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington DC), the Studio Theatre (DC), Theatre East (NY), Mind The Gap (NY), Vital Theatre Company (NY), The Colonial Players (MD), and 1st Stage Theatre (VA). His recent directing credits, amongst others, include 'The Playboy of the Western World' (Stratford-Upon-Duncan), 'Mrs. Jansen Isn't Here Now' (Ego Actus), 'SINGLEMARRIEDGIRL' (Tasty Monster Productions), 'Fish Tacos' (StrangebiRD Productions), 'Swing' (StrangebiRD Productions), 'Miss Frances and the Bamboo Garden' (Tasty Monster Productions), 'Just Deserts' (Tasty Monster Productions), 'Personals' (Talking Horse Productions), and 'A Man of No Importance' (Talking Horse Productions) -which is about to be re-staged by popular demand. Luke is a member of British Actors Equity, the American Actors Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA, The Off-Broadway Alliance, the MAC, and The Spotlight. Please visit: www.luketudball.com

HEATHER BAGNALL is an actress, dancer, model, choreographer, director, playwright, arts educator and Co-Founding Artistic Director of Tasty Monster Productions which has produced original and additional works since 2011. She studied with the Everyman Theatre, Baltimore Theatre Alliance, The Actor's Center, Washington, DC, In-Flight Aerial Theatre, The Trapeze School of New York in DC and The Second City in Chicago. Heather has performed extensively across the United States and throughout Europe and has been touring her original work SINGLEMARRIEDGIRL, voted a top ten solo show at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014, since 2011. Additionally Heather is an educator and arts consultant working with non-profit arts organizations in Maryland, DC, Virginia, and New York. Heather performs regularly with the 29th Street Playwrights Collective in New York and is a Founding Member and Associate Director of Stratford-Upon-Duncan. She is also a member of the Dramatists Guild. www.theexquisiteheather.com

Tasty Monster Productions, founded in 2011 by Heather Bagnall and Luke Tudball, is a vibrant and exciting enterprise which brings together some of the best new talent in the United States and the United Kingdom. Through innovative theatre, cabarets, small ensemble shows and lesser known musicals, Tasty Monster brings engaging new and re-envisioned works to a broad audience while expanding the use of technology and multi-media as a tool for storytelling.

VENUE: HCC Studio Theater, 1304 E 11th Ave, First Floor, Tampa, Florida 33605

PERFORMANCES (60 min): Thursday, May 11, 2017 - 9.55 pm; Saturday, May 13, 2017 - 8.45 pm; Sunday, May 14, 2017 - 2.40 pm